AP US Government : Federal Court Procedures
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Example Questions
Example Question #53 : Federal Courts
The _______________ automatically gets to write all of the opinions for the Supreme Court.
Chief Justice
Senior Justice
None of these
Associate Justice
None of these
This should have been an easy question. Nobody ever gets to “automatically” write all of the opinions for the Supreme Court. The author of the opinion depends in large part on the makeup of the majority. If, for example, the Chief Justice is on the majority, he has the right to assign authorship of the opinion to whoever he desires (including himself). If, however, the Chief Justice is part of the minority (that is, not a part of the majority decision) the most senior justice on the majority side retains that right.
Example Question #22 : Federal Court Procedures
When does the Supreme Court open and end its session each year?
It opens on the first Tuesday of the new year and ends on December 31 of the same year
It opens on the first Monday of September and ends on the third Wednesday of June
It opens on the first Monday of October and ends on the last day of June
It opens on the first Friday of March and ends on the last Friday of July
It opens on the second Monday of January and ends on March 31
It opens on the first Monday of October and ends on the last day of June
This date was selected to mark the date of the opening of the current Supreme Court building. The Supreme Court has a very busy schedule. The justices review briefs and decide if the case has Constitutional merit and is should be granted a hearing. They hold hearings to gather information and evidence on which they will base their decisions. The justices meet in conference to determine which cases will be brought before them, review the case materials and discuss their decision. Then a justice is selected to write the deciding opinion, another justice is chosen to write a dissenting opinion if one exists and other judges may write concurring opinions. The justices and their clerks are extremely busy from October to the last day in June. And just like students and teachers, after taking a short summer break, many justices read to update their knowledge of the law and some even speak to school groups regarding their role in government and the law
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